Not Quite A Con Report

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I've been in Poland for several days now.  Most of which I spent at Falkon, where I met David Weber and Marek Huberath, hung out with Konrad Walewski, had a terrific time, and was gobsmacked by the sight of a science fiction convention with an attendance of almost seven thousand people most of them young.Obviously, Polish fandom is doing something right.

But I also got to wander around Lublin, admire the Old City, stop for coffee and conversation in a rather swell store crammed with books I could not read, pass through the Jewish Gate and climb to the castle (a misnomer, for the castle was torn down and replaced by a prison where, during WWII, too many thousands of people murdered) wherein is preserved the Devil's handprint, from when he slammed a hand down on a table during the Middle Ages, in an incident I hope someday to write about.

I also climbed the hill above Kazimiersk Dolny, wandered among its Renaissance buildings, got a private art show, ate wonderful food and met yet more wonderful people.

Alas, I don't have the time or energy to go into any of that in detail.  But I wanted you to know that I'm well, and enjoying myself immensely.


And meanwhile back in the States . . .

The World Fantasy Awards have been announced and while of course, yes, congratulations to everyone, I should give a shout out to those winners who are particular pals of mine.

First of all to Ellen Datlow, editor extraordinaire, for Lifetime Achievement, one of the least controversial awards ever.  Then to Andy Duncan and Ellen Klages who were, respectively, Clarion West and Clarion South students of mine, and difficult ones, too, for "Wakulla Springs," named Best Novella.  Props to my problem children!  Also to Gardner Dozois and George R. R. Martin, who won Best Anthology for Dangerous Women.  I'm proud to say that I knew them back when I was unpublished and they were both ten feet tall.  And to Best Artist Charles Vess, who once upon a time made me ridiculously happy by creating the single best drawing ever based on Hope Mirrlees' Lud-in-theMist.

I must also acknowledge some professional colleagues:  Irene Gallo, who won Special Award: Professinal for art direction at Tor.com and, not absolutely incidentally, assigned some very fine artists to stories I published there; William K. Schaeffer, also Special Award: Professional (it was a tie) for Subterranean Press, my occasional publisher; and Neile Clarke, Kate Baker, and Sam Wallace for Clarkesworld, which published my tale of life among the annelids, "Passage of Earth."

You can read the entire list here.

Above:  The Jewish Gate, Lublin.  I'll post it as soon as I get a better connection than mu hotel affords.
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